Honestly? Well, some days ago I went to a book store
that was having their fourth anniversary celebration by discounting a massive
amount of books. Mostly are books that I have no interest in. But then, my eyes
caught something familiar, Satin Merah (Red Satin in English, but this book
only available in Indonesian for now). The most amazing part was when I checked
the price, it’s JUST Rp 10.000 (something like 1 US dollar!), the actual price
was Rp 37.000. I have been eyeing Satin Merah since last year, it was in my
will-buy-when-I-have-extra-money-but-I-know-it-won’t-happen list. There’s one
thing that made me very curious with this book at first. On the back cover, it
tells a glimpse of the story and I thought it was cool. Then there’s this
endorsement from fellow Indonesian novelist, Feby Indirani, says, “A theme
that’s mostly untouched by writers nowadays.” I never read Feby’s works so I
didn’t know how I should feel about her comment. But heck, I already felt very
challenged and I couldn’t care less who says what. I thought, “Oh, really?”

My Rambling.

Nindhita Irani Nadyasari, or Nadya for short, is the
lead character in Satin Merah. This 17 year-old girl has... a psychological disorder? I don’t know, not very sure if she is bipolar or a psychopath. But
clearly this girl has issue, like mentally unstable issue. However, even after
finishing this book, I couldn’t feel sorry whatsoever with Nadya. Were the
writers purposely steer the reader to dislike this Nadya character? Well, I
don’t know, I’m not one of the writers (LOL). Satin Merah was written by two
writers who haven’t meet in person while working on the novel (now they’re
married though, so sweet, you can check their blog here).

Personally, I would say that this book has a unique
plot, original idea, and very informative too. I grinned like Cheshire cat when
I found out I got a great book with a great price, seriously, my cheeks hurt. I
rarely read books by Indonesian authors (I don’t mean it like I anti them, but
I just feel uninterested with most of it, you know, same theme, predictable
plot, blabla), but I think Satin Merah deserves much more popularity than most
Indonesian novels that published this past three years. Satin Merah was
published in 2010, and I didn’t hear any uproar (yeah, right) about it, at all.
Okay, maybe it has something to do with my lack of socializing (because I live
in a pineapple under the sea with retarded starfish as my only friend).

Sooo, why 3,5 stars, you meanie! Calm down, I have my
reasons. One, because I didn’t have it in me to like the main character, Nadya
the bipolar slash psychopath girl. Even when I finished the book, resolution
revealed and all, I. Still. Didn’t. Like. Her. It’s so objective, big chance
you’ll get different reaction, maybe you’ll even adore her in the end. And, I’m
a type of reader who read a book and sees the main character as me (weird
much?). Therefore, when I crossed a character like Nadya, even with her
historical background and thoughts, I couldn’t justify her actions, just not
good enough reason to do what
she does in the book.

Then again, I feel some parts in the story are forced,
need more explanation, and
unrealistic here and there. The explanation for the phrase ‘satin merah’ itself
is so interesting. What a fresh idea and very suitable to be the title of this
book. But, if it’s used as what in the book explains, it’s just very
unrealistic. No one comes up with ‘that’ when facing things like ‘that’. And
when Nadya came across with the motorbike gang, I felt a very wide leap in the
story. Really really felt weird and kind of forced. I have some unanswered
questions, like, where the chronology of the last writer murder? Who did hack
the girl’s Facebook account? How come the killer is able to hide the second
victim very neatly like that? And else. I can’t keep rambling about this, will
be a bad spoiler.

However, I
highly praise this book in the beginning because after all it was succeed to
hypnotize me. While reading Satin Merah, I definitely could feel the suspense
and thrill. Those downsides I talked about before, were vanished because Satin
Merah was accomplished to fulfill my #1 criteria of a great book, it is, to be
able to deliver the emotion to its reader. Strange for me, because I don’t like
the main character but I could totally ‘feel’ this book. This told me it is a
great book indeed.

Satin Merah
is very informative, especially about Sundanese Literature (note: Sundanese is
an ethnic in West Java, Indonesia), how to write properly, and blog stuff. I felt
very enlighten about Sundanese Literature because of this book. The authors
also tell so much about how to write because in this story, Nadya is ambitious
to be a writer but she has no such talent. So, while reading the book, you’ll
also get writing lesson as much as Nadya gets. Plus, there are also some blog
tricks that I have no idea about (it still parts of the story) which making me
like a total clueless newbie in this blogospher (true, though).

All in all,
it’s a very interesting book for me. For readers who want to try uncommon theme
in Indonesian novel realm, you should give Satin Merah a try. Not too complex,
enjoyable, great information to expand our knowledge about Sundanese
Literature.

__________

Me, after finishing the book and still doesn't feel anything towards the main character...

Follow widget? Isn't it that thingy beside my photo in 'about me' section? I thought its function is the same with follow widget, that is to let people follow my blog (or is it to follow me? what's the different?) Anywaaay, I didn't put the followers button for that reason...

Well, I checked the word verification (robot code you said) and didn't find any harm if I put it on, quite opposite actually. Have you read this https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/42520 ? It said by enabling word verification will prevent unwanted comments like spam or auto advertising. What bad traffic you mean before?

And about that followers button, I guess that's not different from follow button in 'about me'. It just shows some friendly faces (like Google said) of my followers. But same function I guess..

Favorite Bookish Quote!

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I read. I quote. I joke, terribly.

I review in Indonesian and English. I read almost all kind of genre, so you'll see some totally random books here. I also post some of my favorite quotes that I like to share with you guys. Oh, my name's Sandra Cattelya, by the way. Hello. If you want to know more about me, click here :)

I don't bother to push myself rambling about the newest book because I'm awesome like that. And English is not my first language, Indonesian is. So, please kindly point out my English-killing if you find any.

AND I DON'T DO SPOILERS. That's mean. But if I do, I'll make sure to give spoiler alert beforehand.Bookblogging since September 4th 2013.